What Would you do?

You were recently hired as senior developer, there was another guy hired at the same time for junior position. Few months later you find out that junior developer is earning as much as you do. How would you react to that?

I will not be surprised . IT is a total YMMV(your mileage may vary) . If you want more money look for another job .

Originally posted by Rita Moore: You were recently hired as senior developer, there was another guy hired at the same time for junior position. Few months later you find out that junior developer is earning as much as you do. How would you react to that?

# Help an unprivileged kid.<br /> Whatever u do will make a difference...<br /> ...to a child's life & ur own #<br /><a href="http://www.cry.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.cry.org/</a>

Is the junior developer earning way above his market value or the senior developer is earning below his market value? How are the earnings compared to other developers in the company?

If it is an isolated incident where the junior developer just got lucky or being favorited and earn much more than he should have earn (based on what he does and his performance), I would keep my mouth shut.

If it is apparent that I (the senior developer) am being treated unfair and I know I am doing my job well, I will not hesitate to ask my manager to discuss the situation. I will be careful not too focus on the fact that he is earning more than I am, but I will focus on the indication that I am being paid less than I deserve based on what I do and my performance. I will prepare myself with facts that shows indeed I have a higher value than the junior developer. Managers do not like people who nag or who ask for more only. Managers may (good manager will) listen to facts and reason.

However, I will also be ready to look for another job if things goes south. So, if the economy / job market is not doing too well, I will probably bite my tongue until then.

If I felt I was clearly worth more than him, I would wait for my next scheduled review - pushing for one if they aren't scheduled - and at that time request a significant raise based on the fact that I was currently being paid a junior developer's salary. In the meantime, I'd be on the lookout for other opportunities.

I'd keep in mind, though, that senior people aren't necessarily worth more than junior people. The classis example is that development managers are often not worth more than good developers; this could apply to senior versus junior developer positions, too, if the difference is just that the senior developer is expected to do more team leadership or client interaction, without necessarily being more productive as an engineer.

This is nothing out of ordinary. Companies try thier best to not let the employees know each other's salaries. We have a bunch of people where I work that were hired in late nineties that make salaries a lot higher than some of us, that were hired very recently. Market rates are low. So, they were able to hire engineers to do the same work for cheap.

1) Whether you or that junior developer is exception ? I mean it could be that only his salary is higher in the group. That may be beacuse of some rare skill in the market or for some other reason

2) But if the salaries are random across the organization then u need to communicate your stand to your manager. If you realize that after even talking to management there is no improvement then be ready to move out.

The price of a commodity does not depend on the time spent in producing it but on the forces of demand and supply; similarly, your take home does not depend on your experience level but on your negotiation power, it all ends up with what you negotiated. The more risks you take, the more returns you get. The Junior developer took a high risk by asking for preety high pay knowing quite well there are others who might be asking for less; you took a low risk by accepting for a senior position at low income, my advice to you is to look for another job and do not begrudge or even mention the junior developers pay while negotiating for more pay, rather ask for more pay based on your productivity.